Mood Mix with Yossi Newman 

As a popular keyboard player and DJ,  YOSSI NEWMAN loves spreading joy at simchahs throughout the year, and all summer long as the veteran musician and DJ at Camp Sternberg, also playing at Camp Romimu, Camp Rayim, Camp Kaylie, Camp Heller, Camp Kol Torah in Cleveland, Aguda Midwest, The Zone, Camp Simcha, and other special needs camps. Now living in Clifton, NJ, Yossi was raised in Flatbush and later lived in Cleveland for five years, during which time he partnered with Eli Gerstner to found the Yeshiva Boys Choir, which he’s conducted, choreographed, and composed for through two hit-filled decades.

A SONG I’VE BEEN TUNING TO FOR CHIZUK THESE DAYS

MBD’s “Unity.” I think its message — “Listen, brother, listen, friend,
just a little smile, a helping hand, and our hearts will find a loving kind humanity,” is more appropriate than ever.

A SONG THAT HAS AMAZING, ORIGINAL VOCAL ARRANGEMENTS

Ishay Ribo’s “Seder Ha’avodah.” You can practically feel how the entire crowd in the Beis Hamikdash is behind you.

AN ARTIST I FEEL MOST CONNECTED TO

I would say it’s a standoff between MBD and Abie Rotenberg. I was in my mid-teens during the 1990s, when they were putting out their really great stuff — think The Double Album and Journeys. Those were great times musically. We had Mendy Wald, Dedi, some nice Dveykus material, Yitzy Bald composing amazing hits, and then Yaakov Shwekey’s debut in 2001 with his blockbuster album, Shomati. I was in ninth and tenth grade, enjoying it all.

MY FAVORITE ENGLISH LYRICS

“You’re tugging and pulling the string in my hand” — another of Abie’s great lyrics. We can’t see Hashem, but we can feel Him “tugging and pulling” the strings in our lives every day.